Never say Never
by lorixjake
Summary: A story of how James Potter's sixth and seventh year at Hogwarts. His change from immature pranking genius to headboy and holder of the heart of Lily Evans. (JamesxLily)
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's trousers?" James Potter's voice rang across the grass and the crowd gathered around were laughing.

"Do it! Do it!" Came the chant, mainly led by his best friend Sirius Black.

"I think you should have the honour Padfoot old friend." James grinned, his free hand pushing through his unruly black hair.

"With pleasure my dear Prongs." He replied, using his own wand to begin humiliating Snape even further.

"Mr Potter! Mr Black!" Professor McGonagall was thundering towards them, glasses glinting dangerously in the summer sunshine. "Put him down this instance!" She demanded, drawing closer as the crowd began to dissipate quickly. The two friends waved their wands and Snape fell in a heap on the floor. He leapt to his feet, his face a blotchy red with embarrassment and anger. Then he stalked off in the direction Lily had gone.

"Detention with me every night until the end of term and fifty points from Gryffindor from both of you." She glowered at them. "How dare you humiliate another student like that. You are sixteen not six. Act like it. And you, Mr Lupin." She whirled about to the boy who was still sitting under the tree, looking at his friends anxiously. "You are a prefect. It is your duty to put a stop to behaviour like this. If you cannot live up to that responsibility then I will have to think about whether you are the right choice for prefect."

"Yes Professor." He replied quietly looking slightly ashamed. James felt slightly bad for his friend. He knew how much being a prefect meant to Remus and he didn't want to be the cause of that being taken away from him.

"You two, 7pm sharp, my office." With that, she turned and walked back up to the castle. They all watched her go and then returned to sitting under the tree together.

"What do you reckon it will be this time? Lines or cleaning?" Sirius asked James with a grin.

"Maybe a few hundred lines of 'I must not embarrass Snivelly Snape because my friend was bored.'" James replied, smirking.

"James, please." Remus butted in quietly. "You know you went too far."

"He called Lily a you-know-what. There is no such thing as too far."

"Because you forced his hand. You might well have cost Lily one of her good friends."

"Good. I don't like him near her anyway. About time she saw what he is really like." He shrugged.

"That may be, but think how Lily will be feeling about this. You just humiliated her friend in front of a large crowd, she wasn't impressed with you and you lost her that same friend. Not really the way to go about convincing her to go out with you." Remus pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know what she gets so worked up about. It's not like he would ever lose an opportunity to curse us." Sirius interjected.

"I give up." Remus threw his hands in the air. James drew out the snitch again and began letting it fly away before catching it. Peter was clapping and whistling excitedly.

"Seriously Prongs. Peter is going to wet himself." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Let's go have a practice game then." James suggested.

"Or you could study for your exams." Remus put in. "Just a suggestion."

"Oh pshh, we know it all." James grinned.

"Remus, can I borrow your notes for History?" Peter asked shyly.

"You really should have made your own Pete." Remus sighed. "But ok, they are up in the Dormitory. If you want them."

"How come you let him have them? You make us take our own." Sirius protested indignantly, looking wounded as he gestured to himself and James.. Remus didn't dignify that with a response. The four friends started to make their way inside and made their way through the crowd up to Gryffindor Tower. They had only just walked into the common room where there was a loud crack and James staggered backwards from the force of the slap.

"Ow! What the hell?" He clutched his cheek with one hand and looked around to see who had hit him. "Oh, hi Evans." He quickly mussed up his hair with his free hand.

"What do you think you were playing at out there? He did nothing to you. You are an arrogant, pathetic, toerag Potter. No matter what you say I will never, ever go out with you!"

"Never say never my dear Evans." James replied calmly, giving her a lopsided grin. As he took in her flashing green eyes in her face that was contorted in anger and framed by her fiery red hair, he thought he had never seen a more beautiful sight. He watched as she flounced off up to the girls dormitory and silently vowed that Lily Evans would be his.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Summer holidays

James Potter was having a wonderful summer. His parents had taken him on holiday to Germany for a week where he kept in constant contact with his three best friends. The weather was wonderful and he was often out playing Quidditch on the family pitch outside of Potter Manor. Sometimes he would practice against his father, but as his father was getting quite old he would have to practise by himself more often than not. As an only child, James was very spoilt and used to having his own way. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter had been so delighted to finally have a child, despite their advancing ages that James had been even more spoilt than most only children.

One morning James was sitting awaiting his OWL Results to arrive. The House Elf, Blinky, had made his favourite breakfast, pancakes with bacon. Suddenly a large brown owl landed in front of him with two letters attached to it's leg.

"Mum. Dad. Results are here." He called. They came dashing in and watched as he opened his letter. His results read:

 _Ordinary Wizarding Level Results_

 _Pass Grades:_

 _Outstanding (O)_

 _Exceeds Expectations (E)_

 _Acceptable (A)_

 _Fail Grades:_

 _Poor (P)_

 _Dreadful (D)_

 _Troll (T)_

 _James Charlus Potter has achieved:_

 _Astronomy O_

 _Care of Magical Creatures O_

 _Arithmancy O_

 _Charms E_

 _Defense Against the Dark Arts O_

 _Ancient Runes O_

 _Herbology O_

 _History of Magic O_

 _Potions O_

 _Transfiguration_ _O_

He grinned to himself. 10 OWLs with 9 Outstandings. His parents clapped him on the back and congratulated him profusely. James immediately went to send his owl, Mercury, to Remus, Sirius and Peter with his results.

"What are you going to take for NEWTs James?" His father asked.

"Well I will need Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, DADA and Herbology to become an Auror, I imagine I will probably keep Ancient Runes too."

"You're definitely set on becoming an Auror then son?" Fleamont asked.

"I am. I spoke to Professor McGonagall about it last term." James grinned.

"Good for you Darling." Euphemia smiled, patting his cheek. "Have you asked Sirius to come and stay at all this holiday?"

"Not yet. He'll come whether I ask or not if he wants to." James snorted. Fleamont laughed with his son.

"True, true." He agreed. Just then there was a disturbance in the living room. All three of them advanced, wands drawn, and opened the door. Lying on the floor, covered in blood, was Sirius Black, his trunk lying open beside him.

"Sirius!" James called, running forward to his best friend's side. "What happened? Why are you covered in blood?"

"Mum." He wheezed, coughing up a little blood. Euphemia rushed forwards and began waving her wand in complex patterns. She ordered her husband to go and get some blood replenishing potions amongst others as she tried to heal Sirius. James was silent as she worked, worried over his friend. He knew Sirius wasn't treated particularly well at home, but he had never seen him in such bad shape.

"Sirius, dear, can you tell me what happened?" She asked softly.

"Got my OWL results today. Mum saw that I got an Outstanding in Muggle Studies. It always did infuriate her that I took it. I think doing so well was the final straw. She started throwing curses at me. I had already packed my trunk just in case. So I summoned it and flooed out of there. As I was leaving I think she was blasting me off the family wall." Sirius recounted.

"Oh my gosh. I need to know what curses she used." Euphemia encouraged gently. Sirius told her and she paled. "James, levitate him up to his room."

"My room?" Sirius questioned.

"The room you always stay in here. It is yours now. I can hardly send you back to that place can I?" She chided. "You're practically our second son anyway."

"I don't want to be any trouble Mrs Potter." He protested weakly, but James could see how desperately he wanted to stay.

"You know that's not true Padfoot. You take great delight in being trouble." James teased his friend. Sirius gave him a weak grin as James drew his wand and levitated Sirius onto a stretcher he had just conjured. Both of his parents followed him as he floated the stretcher up the stairs and down the hallway to the room Sirius usually occupied when staying at Potter Manor. Lowering him gently to the bed, James pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.

"Right. I've done all I can. He needs rest but you should be fine by tomorrow Sirius." Euphemia announced after another hour.

"Thanks Mrs Potter."

"Its Euphemia, dear." She corrected with a motherly smile. "James, let's leave him alone for now. You can come and entertain him this afternoon. Sirius, you get some sleep." With that, she shepherded her son and husband out of the room. Then she tasked one of the House Elves with looking after Sirius and making sure he had some lunch when he woke up. The Potter family moved downstairs, back to the kitchen.

"He'll have to stay here Fleamont. We can't send him back to those monsters." Euphemia said to her husband, wringing her hands in her lap.

"Of course he will have to stay. He's already like James' brother." Fleamont agreed instantly. "I just worry about keeping the house standing." He said, winking at James who pretended to look indignant.

"Whatever do you mean dad?" He asked innocently.

"Exactly what I said. Having you around is bad enough, but between you and Sirius the house will be lucky to last a week." His father grinned.

"Don't act like you aren't as bad Fleamont." His wife admonished with a smile.

"You caught me." He laughed. "Now, James, don't forget there was another letter for you." He reminded his son. James leaned over and picked up the forgotten letter from the kitchen table. Opening it, he saw it was his Hogwarts letter. As he picked it up a badge fell out. He turned it over and gave a loud cheer which startled both his parents into spilling breakfast over themselves.

"James...What on earth?" His mother asked.

"I'm Quidditch captain!" He yelled, bouncing up and down in his seat.

"Congratulations, son. Just like your old man." Fleamont smiled as he waved his wand to clean up the mess.

"Yes, well done dear but could you try not to shout so loudly next time." His mother sighed exasperatedly.

"Sorry mum." James grinned, not looking sorry at all. Once he had finished eating, James ran up to his room and began planning Quidditch training sessions. He planned on having practise three times a week. Trials would have to be held as their old Keeper and one of the chasers had now graduated. The Prewett twins had also now finished Hogwarts which left the beater positions open too, however Sirius was the reserve beater and very good so James only needed to recruit one more. The only remaining members apart from James himself were Gregory Davis, a burly boy a year older than James as his fellow chaser and a third year called Jasmine Moon. She had been a fine find by the old captain last year. Light and speedy she was the perfect build for a seeker with a good eye for the snitch despite her youth.

With this in mind, James began to devise some team building exercises to help the team gel. Last year the Quidditch cup had been won by Ravenclaw and this year James was determined to prove he was right choice for captain by winning the cup. He knew that a lot of the Ravenclaw team were also seventh years and so would also be leaving. Sadly there were no graduates in the Slytherin or Hufflepuff teams so they would all know how the other team members played.

It was a good few hours before James decided he was hungry and needed to take a break. Wandering downstairs, he found that he had missed lunch and so called Blinky to get him something to eat in his room. He glanced over his Hogwarts list again and noted the new Defense Against the Dark Arts book. Their last teacher had left due to contracting Dragon Pox at the end of term. In fact they had never had the same Defense teacher two years running. People were beginning to believe the position was cursed.

James leaned back in his chair and sighed. As much as he loved the summer holidays, he couldn't wait to be back at Hogwarts with one Lily Evans. The girl he had loved since his first year. At first he had ignored the crying girl in their compartment on the train, but then Snivelly had come in and she had stuck up for him which caught his attention. From that moment on he had mooned after her and Lily had turned down his every advance. Of course at the age of eleven, his idea of liking a girl was to prank her at every opportunity but that seemed to make her dislike him more. As he grew older and began to realise how deep his feelings for Lily went, he had banned any pranks on her but sought to impress her in other ways. Girls practically fell at his feet as he landed after a good game of Quidditch and he couldn't work out why Lily wasn't the same. Yet the fact that she wasn't drew him in even further.

A loud cry of "PRONGS!" Startled him out of his thoughts. He made his way to Sirius' room to find him sitting up in bed. "About time too, I've been calling you for ages."

"What is it Padfoot?"

"I'm bored. I hate being stuck in bed."

"Mum says you gotta stay there until tomorrow. Bad luck Pads." James grinned.

"She won't know." Sirius argued. Both of them refused to acknowledge exactly why Sirius was stuck in bed. They prefered to pass it off as a Quidditch injury or something similar.

"You know that she will find out. I'd rather make it to Hogwarts alive thanks mate."

"Coward." Sirius muttered good naturedly. "So what grades did you get?" He asked. James summoned the letter and passed it over to Sirius.

"What about you?" James asked. Sirius handed over a piece of paper that had been crumpled in his hand. He read:

 _Ordinary Wizarding Level Results_

 _Pass Grades:_

 _Outstanding (O)_

 _Exceeds Expectations (E)_

 _Acceptable (A)_

 _Fail Grades:_

 _Poor (P)_

 _Dreadful (D)_

 _Troll (T)_

 _Sirius Orion Black has achieved:_

 _Astronomy O_

 _Care of Magical Creatures O_

 _Muggle Studies O_

 _Charms O_

 _Defense Against the Dark Arts O_

 _Ancient Runes O_

 _Herbology O_

 _History of Magic O_

 _Potions O_

 _Transfiguration_ _E_

"Nice one mate." James grinned. "Wonder how Moony and Wormtail got on."

"Have you owled them?" James nodded.

"I did it this morning. Mercury is usually pretty quick at getting responses." James smirked a little. "So, when you're up to it we need to go to Diagon Alley. Get some new pranks, some Quidditch gear and maybe a couple of school books. By the way...I'M QUIDDITCH CAPTAIN!" He suddenly yelled, making Sirius jump.

"Oi, no need to yell so loud Prongs. But congrats." Sirius grinned, pleased for his friend. He knew that James had wanted to be Quidditch captain since his first year. They had both been upset when they found that first years were not allowed on the team.

"The Prewett twins have left. So there is a beater spot open for you now." James beamed.

"Wicked! I'm going to need a whole new set of gear then."

"Exactly what I was thinking, Padfoot old friend."

The next morning, Mrs Potter deemed that Sirius was ok to be up and about as long as he promised not to strain himself. It was decided that they would go into Diagon Alley the following day. James then borrowed two family owls to send to Remus and Peter inviting them to meet him and Sirius in the Leaky Cauldron. They spent the day working on their summer work under the watchful eye of Mrs Potter. It was later afternoon before Mercury arrived back with letters from Peter and Remus.

"Open it!" Demanded Sirius.

"Alright, alright. Remus says he got 8 Outstandings and 2 Exceeds Expectations." James informed him.

"Good old Moony. What about Pete?"

"Pete got 1 Exceeds Expectations, 5 Acceptables, 2 Poors and 1 Dreadful."

"Ahh well, at least he didn't get a Troll." Sirius sniggered. They both laughed and headed up to James' room where they began plotting pranks to play on Snape. As the owls didn't have to go to two people this time, the notes back arrived the following morning. Remus agreed to meet them around noon but Peter said his mother was ill and he needed to look after her. He would meet them all on the train.

"Shame about his mum." James said sympathetically.

"Yeah. She must have really bad health. She's been getting quite ill a lot recently." Sirius commented thoughtfully.

"Hope she gets better. Pete adores her." James looked unusually grave.

"Ah well. It's almost time to go. Mrs Potter, Mr Potter!" Sirius called loudly. "Can we go now?" They came walking into the room a few minutes later and said they were ready to go. James grabbed some floo powder from the fireplace, removed his glasses, and threw it into the fire.

"Diagon Alley!" He called clearly. He was suddenly sent spinning. It lasted far too long in his opinion until he finally came tumbling out into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Nice landing there Prongs." Came an amused voice from above his head. He looked up and saw Remus standing over him. He helped him up and James pulled him into a hug just as Sirius came whizzing out but managed to stay on his feet. "See, James, that's how you do it." Remus sniggered.

"He fell over again?" Sirius smirked and Remus nodded. Both friends fell about laughing as Mrs Potter joined them followed quickly by her husband.

"Where too first dear?" Fleamont asked.

"Gringotts I think and then we can have some lunch before shopping." Euphemia suggested. Everyone nodded.

"I'll meet you guys back here." Remus smiled. James and Sirius were shepherded out of the Leaky Cauldron and down the crowded, cobblestone street. A surly goblin took them down to the main Potter vault where the three Potters filled their money bags.

"James, take some for when you go back to school. Sirius, help yourself dear." Mrs Potter fussed. Sirius backed away slightly.

"It's fine mum." He said without thinking, Then he realised what he had said, blushed slightly, and went to apologise but Mrs Potter cut him off saying she would love him to call her mum. He ended up taking some money, finally accepting that, having been blasted off the family wall, he would be seen to have no rights to access the Black vault. Especially as he was not of age and he had no key. Once they had some money, they all headed back to meet Remus and have a quick lunch. The boys all ate quickly, eager to get to Quality Quidditch Supplies. The Potters and the Lupins humoured them and allowed themselves to be dragged to the Quidditch shop.

"I need some new beaters gloves then." Sirius said, heading over to the right section. Remus was looking around amusedly watching his friends practically drooling over the new Nimbus 1000. James currently flew a Silver Arrow which was the best model around except this new Nimbus and so he went into a deep argument with his parents as to why he needed a new broom as he was captain. Sirius had just bought his own beater's bat instead of using the school one as he had been before along with the gloves he wanted. Sirius himself flew on a Cleansweep Two.

"But Muuum. I can give Sirius my Silver Arrow." James was still arguing. "He needs a newer broom because he's no longer a reserve. As he is really like a brother now he can have my hand me downs."

"Oi, I'm older than you. If anything you should have my hand me downs." Sirius retorted.

"Well, as he has been made Quidditch Captain." Fleamont said, looking to his wife. Mrs Potter went to the counter and ordered two Nimbus 1000s.

"He gets one too?" James pretended to pout.

"Just think how it will help your team with two of you on these brooms." Mr Potter reminded him.

"Yeah ok." Jame agreed instantly.

"So glad I have your approval." Mrs Potter said sarcastically. Sirius and Remus sniggered. "Right, we need to go to Flourish and Blotts." James and Sirius groaned loudly. They grudgingly dragged their feet down the street and hesitantly entered the shop, making a big show of having to be forced inside. As he straightened up he saw a familiar flash of red hair towards the back of the store. He immediately began making his way over and saw Lily Evans standing in the Ancient Runes section. Conveniently, James needed a book for this so he had an excuse to go over. He made his way over until he was standing right behind her, looking over her shoulder. She started to turn around and knocked right into him.

"Oof, I'm sor...Potter!" She cut off the apology and glared at him. "You're in my way."

"So sorry my dearest Evans. I didn't see you there." James apologised with a wicked grin on his face. He was about a foot taller than Lily and well muscled. She knew she wouldn't be able to force him out of the way.

"You do realise this is a book store don't you?" She asked trying not to act infuriated.

"Of course I do. I'm not stupid." He replied.

"That's news to me." She snarked.

"Ouch, Evans, that hurt. I do happen to need some school books you know."

"I didn't know you could read."

"Got out the wrong side of bed this morning did you?" James looked decidedly amused.

"Move Potter." Lily demanded.

"Ask nicely." He grinned, thoroughly enjoying himself. Lily took a deep breath.

"Please would you kindly move, Potter." She spat through gritted teeth.

"You only had to ask." He beamed, moving out of the way and gesturing for her to pass. Lily stalked off muttering under her breath while James gazed after her. He grabbed the books he needed for Ancient Runes and went back to join his parents and friends.

(A/N Hope you guys enjoy the start of this story. Update days will be Monday and maybe Saturdays for this story and Tuesdays for Changing Time now that I'm back on a regular schedule.)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2: The Sorting

By the time is was time to head back to Hogwarts, James and Sirius were thoroughly looking forward to it. They had had an amazing summer filled with Quidditch and trips out, having the run of Potter manor and pranking the inhabitants, including each other. Remus had spent a couple of days with them but Peter hadn't been over all summer despite numerous invitations. They were looking forward to having the Marauders altogether again and pranking the whole of Hogwarts, in particular, one Severus Snape. James was also eager to be back with Lily and have a whole new year to convince her to go out with him.

The trip to King's Cross was a chaotic one. Mrs Potter was running around shouting at the boys for not packing everything the night before as she had told them to countless times. James and Sirius were running around trying to find everything that they had forgotten to pack, which mostly consisted of prank items. Finally everyone was ready and they loaded themselves into the magical cars Mr Potter had procured from the Ministry for the day. Once at the station, the trunks were loaded onto trolleys and they made their way to the magical barrier. Leaning against it casually, James and Sirius fell through onto Platform 9 ¾. They were quickly joined by the Potters and made their way to the last compartment on the train which they had occupied every year since their first train ride.

"James! Sirius!" Came a squeaky voice through the crowd. They both looked around and saw Peter hurrying towards them alone.

"Hey Pete. Have you seen Moony yet?" James asked, clapping his friend on the back.

"No not yet." He replied. They all heaved the heavy suitcases onto the luggage racks and went back outside to say goodbye to the Potters.

"Bye mum. We will see you at Christmas." James gave his mother a fleeting hug, shook his father's hand and then turned around and disappeared onto the train dragging Peter with him.

"Thanks for everything mum. See you for Christmas." Sirius said gratefully hugging Mrs Potter slightly longer than he would normally. He shook Mr Potter's hand and went to join James and Peter on the train just as the whistle sounded. Hanging out of the window, they all waved goodbye to the Potter's and Lupin's as the train began to pull out of the station. Remus was in the Prefect's carriage so the other three began a game of exploding snap, taking it turns to play each other. It was an hour or so before Remus walked in, causing Peter to jump and knock into Sirius, meaning the cards exploded in his face.

"Nice look there Siri." James grinned at his friends singed eyebrows.

"Shut it Prongs." Sirius grumbled as he went about fixing the damage.

"So Pete, how's your mum?" Remus asked kindly, sitting down beside him.

"Getting better but she had really bad pneumonia." He answered sadly.

"That's too bad." James said sympathetically.

"Anyway, what are we going to do for the start of year prank?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Fireworks?" Peter suggested.

"Did that in Fourth year." James shrugged. "How about we jinx the Slytherin plates to dance every time they try to touch them?"

"Did that last year." Sirius reminded him.

"What about making the Sorting Hat have a really squeaky voice." Remus put in.

"That's a great idea Remus." James congratulated. "We have to do that. Sirius, you cause an explosion in the Entrance Hall while Minnie carries the hat in and Moony, you actually jinx the hat."

"Why me?" Remus asked.

"It was your idea. And they are less likely to suspect you of doing anything." Sirius grinned.

"Fine." He sighed but he was grinning so the others knew he was excited by the idea too. When the lunch trolley arrived James bough a bunch of food and they all shared it out. Sirius and Remus had a fight over the last chocolate frog which resulted in Sirius with green hair. He spent the next half an hour complaining and begging Remus to change it back.

"You should know better than to fight with Moony over chocolate." Was all James would say on the matter. Which caused Sirius to mutter even more insulting things under his breath. Peter was sitting in the corner eating Fudge Flies which were his favourite and James had taken all the Pumpkin Pasties. They spent a while daring each other to try different Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans seeing who had the most disgusting. The worst James had was earwax. Sirius got a Bogey flavoured one. Remus got one that tasted like dirt and Peter's worst flavour was strawberry.

"You have all the luck with those Wormtail. Not a single nasty one." Sirius lamented while Peter laughed. Just then Marlene McKinnon wandered into their compartment. She was Sirius' latest girlfriend but also one of Lily's best friends. Marlene had brought her friends with her which included: Lily, Dorcas Meadows, a now seventh year Ravenclaw and Alice Pearce who had brought her boyfriend Frank Longbottom, a seventh year Gryffindor. Alice, Lily and Marlene were best friends and had been since first year.

Lily and Marlene were complete opposites. Lily was studious, smart, a prefect and hated breaking rules. She was of average height with fiery red hair and a temper to match. Marlene was lazy, clever enough to get by without needing to put any effort in. She was quite tall and had curly dark brown hair. Marlene was incredibly laid back and had no issues breaking rules, a perfect match for Sirius Black, Hogwarts resident bad boy. Alice had a round, kind face and was incredibly clumsy. She was quite calm in temperament and often mediated disputes between her dorm mates because Marlene may have been laid back but when she got worked up she was just as bad as Lily.

As they all came in, Sirius squeezed up next to Remus who was sat by the window to make room for Marlene and Dorcas. Marlene and Sirius immediately started a marathon make out session. Frank took the end seat with Alice on his lap, leaving Lily to sit next to James, much to her disgust, as Peter had the other window seat.

"So how was your summer Evans?" James asked pleasantly.

"Fine." She replied shortly, starting up a conversation with Dorcas who was trying to look anywhere but at Marlene and Sirius. Looking hurt, James turned to Peter and Remus to resume talking about the prank they had been planning.

"Pranks already Potter?" Lily asked, looking exasperated.

"I always talk about pranks. That and Quidditch." He smiled.

"You'd better not play any during the feast."

"Would we?" The marauders all asked at the same time.

"Yes!" Chorused everyone else immediately after, causing them all to laugh. The compartment was full of general chatter until Marlene finally broke apart from Sirius and squealed.

"What?" Dorcas asked, looking annoyed having had her squeal right in her ear.

"James! You're Quidditch captain? Congratulations. I'm impressed we didn't all know the second we walked in."

"Oh. Yeah." James puffed out his chest importantly so everyone could see the badge shining on his robes.

"Nice one. I was thinking of trying out this year." Marlene grinned.

"You can play Quidditch? I like you even more." Sirius smirked.

"What position?" James asked.

"Chaser. I heard there is one chaser slot open now."

"Yeah, there is. Both beater positions, one chaser and a keeper. Sirius is going to try out for one of the beater places."

"Awesome. We can be on the team together." Marlene began kissing Sirius again and they all knew that ended that discussion. Neither of them would be surfacing any time soon.

About an hour later the train smoothly pulled into Hogsmeade station. There was a large kerfuffle as they scrambled to get their luggage. James grabbed Mercury and made his way out of the train, holding the door for Lily who looked suspicious but didn't have time to examine it for traps as the crowd carried her out. They heard a familiar voice calling over the noisy crowd.

"Firs' years. Firs' years this way."

"Hey Hagrid!" James called.

"Hiya James, Sirius." Hagrid waved at them, almost knocking a first year over with his dustbin lid sized hand causing both of them to snicker. The large group started making their way over to the carriages. The marauders were in one with Marlene. The rest got a second carriage. As they headed up the front steps, James spotted McGonagall heading into the Great Hall carrying the Sorting Hat. He nudged Sirius who immediately let loose one of his Dr Filibuster Fireworks causing her to come running back out trying to banish it. In all the commotion Remus sent a non-verbal jinx at the hat. He gave a thumbs up to James and the four friends hurried into the Great Hall away from McGonagall's wrath.

They all sat down and waited impatiently for the first years to come in. None of them could stop grinning and the girls were looking at them suspiciously. Fortunately they were distracted by the first years trooping into the hall looking in equal parts scared and awestruck.

"They are so titchy." Sirius grinned.

"You were that small once." Remus reminded him.

"I was never as small as Prongs though." Sirius smirked. James hit him upside the head as everyone turned to look at the hat which opened wide and began to sing:

" _A thousand years or more ago."_ Everyone burst into laughter as the song came out in a high pitched squeak.

" _When Hogwarts was newly founded_

 _It was a place of friendships strong_

 _Where laughter oft resounded_

 _No such friends were there_

 _Like Slytherin and Gryffindor_

 _Unless it was the second pair_

 _Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw_

 _Between the four_

 _They hatched a plan to teach_

 _Young sorcerers their magic_

 _In which they had to each_

 _Select the student's that did have_

 _The qualities they themselves possess,_

 _Bold Gryffindor himself_

 _Would settle for nothing less_

 _Than those of great courage_

 _And who were pure of heart_

 _Whereas wit and cleverness_

 _Set Ravenclaws apart_

 _Hufflepuff found the loyal_

 _Most worthy of admission_

 _Slytherin took only those_

 _Of great cunning and ambition_

 _When Slytherin did depart_

 _And was gone from thereon after_

 _Discord flew around the halls_

 _That once held only laughter_

 _Hogwarts is at its strongest_

 _When united from within_

 _For only if you are divided_

 _Can external foes win_

 _Now I've said my piece_

 _And you must heed my warning_

 _Against my better judgement_

 _Let us start the sorting"_

The hall was not laughing any more. Despite the humorous voice in which the hat sang, the seriousness of the song could not be overlooked.

"It wants us to be best friends with the Slytherins? Fat chance." Sirius whispered, looking over at the Slytherin table which was full of people pulling equally disgusted faces at the thought.

McGonagall was now unrolling a long piece of parchment and started calling out names.

"Adams, Natalie." A small, mousy haired girl, became a Ravenclaw.

"Altrincham, Benedict." Also went to join the Ravenclaw table.

"Baldwick, George." Became the first new Gryffindor and all the Marauders began cat calling loudly.

"Cartwright, Jessica." Went to Slytherin causing the Marauders to boo loudly over the clapping of the Slytherin table. Lily scolded them quietly. They quickly began to lose interest in the game except when a new Gryffindor was announced.

As "Lockhart, Gilderoy." Went to Ravenclaw, Sirius began to complain about how hungry he was. While James was inclined to agree but the girls told them to shut up and watch. Finally the crowd began to dwindle.

"Saunders, Danielle." Went to Hufflepuff after a long deliberation.

"Yates, Ethan." Became a Gryffindor and that finished the sorting. Dumbledore stood up just as Sirius' stomach gave a particularly loud growl, causing those around him to stare.

"Let the feast, begin." Dumbledore called.

"'Bout time too." James and Sirius said together. Suddenly the dishes in front of them were filled with food of every kind. The boys all loaded their plates incredibly high and began to devour the food. Lily and Marlene looked at them in disgust before starting their own food in a much more polite manner.

"Oh yeah, the password is Bowtruckle." Remus whispered to James and Sirius. He wasn't sure if they even heard him as the merely continued to eat. There was a small shriek further down the table. Glancing up, Lily saw Nearly Headless Nick showing off to an unsuspecting first year. They all began talking about their summers. Marlene had been in France for most of it with her parents and younger sister, Henrietta who was a Gryffindor fourth year. Lily had been at home with her parents and sister, refusing to say much more than that. She didn't want to confess how her sister treated her, especially in front of James bloody Potter. James was happily recounting his adventures with Sirius around Potter Manor which had most of the group in stitches.

Just then the food all disappeared to be immediately replaced with desserts. Lily took a large helping of treacle tart, which was her favourite. She looked over at the Slytherin table purely out of instinct and saw Severus watching her with an inscrutable expression on his face. That summer had been particularly hard for Lily as it was the first since she started Hogwarts where she didn't have Severus to talk to when Petunia annoyed her too much. A fact for which she blamed Potter. Lily knew she would have to get used to his company considering their best friends were dating but she couldn't even look at him without feeling angry.

James was watching Lily who was biting her lower lip and staring at her treacle tart as if it had offended her.

"Don't hex the tart." James joked. Lily glared at him.

"I wasn't going to hex it." She snapped back.

"You looked like it had insulted you or something."

"I was thinking it was you."

"Ohh...you daydream about me?" James smirked, puffing out his chest a little. "Why, Evans, I'm honoured."

"Stuff you Potter. It would only ever be a nightmare." Lily tried hard to resist the temptation to curse him in the middle of the Great Hall. Thankfully, just then, the puddings disappeared and Dumbledore stood up again.

"Well now that you are all full and tired I must say a few important words." He chuckled slightly. "First of all, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to ALL students." His eyes twinkled in the direction of the Marauders as he said this.

"Honestly, you'd think he meant us." Grinned Remus.

"I just can't understand it." Muttered James with a smirk.

"This year, we have a new caretaker. Please welcome Argus Filch and his cat Mrs Norris. You can find a list of banned items pinned to his office door which now includes Dungbombs."

"Awww." The Marauders all groaned.

"Please also welcome Professor Deacon who will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year." Everybody clapped politely. "Now, off to bed." He clapped his hands and everyone stood up and began making their way out of the hall.

"First years, this way." Remus called over the chattering crowd. He and Lily led the small group of Gryffindor first years out of the hall first, the rest of the house making their way up in twos and threes behind.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3: First day

James awoke the next morning to something wet blowing in his ear. Opening his eyes, he saw the blurry form of Peeves blowing a raspberry in his ear.

"Go 'way Peeves." He mumbled, swatting the Poltergeist which was a mistake because he then went and dumped a jug of cold water over James' head. "Oi. Bugger off." He yelped, as he jumped up, grabbed his glasses and pushed them onto his nose. The noise woke Sirius and Remus who looked around just in time to see Peeves glide through the door cackling loudly. James glanced at the clock and swore when the red lights told him it was five in the morning.

"Damn Poltergeist." Sirius cursed, rolling back over and burying his head under the pillow. James grabbed his wand and cast a drying charm over himself and his bed. He knew that he would have difficulty getting back to sleep so he got up and had a hot shower, deliberately taking ages so there would be little hot water left for Sirius. He knew that neither Remus or Peter would want a shower until tonight so he cast a jinx that would definitely make the water icy cold after five minutes of use.

Once he was washed and dressed, he made his way down to the common room unsurprised to find it empty. He sank into the cosy armchair by the empty fire. It was too early for breakfast so he decided to pull out the list of pranks the Marauders had made over the summer. One idea stuck in his head, Remus had found a spell that could be placed over doorways or such places and caused whoever walked through to change colour. He was still browsing the list when Remus came down the stairs with Peter.

"Sirius still in the bathroom?" James asked.

"He only went in five minutes ago. It'll be a while, we may as well get breakfast without him." Remus sniggered.

"Shouldn't we wait for Sirius?" Peter asked anxiously.

"Let's wait a few more minutes." James grinned. Remus threw him a suspicious look but agreed. It wasn't long before they heard a high pitched screech coming from their dormitory followed by a string of very loud curses. Remus and Peter looked at James who was snickering loudly.

"I used most of the hot water before I came down. He probably got stuck with a cold shower." All three of them were laughing when a very grumpy Sirius came stomping down the stairs with a scowl on his elegant features.

"What's the matter Padfoot?" James asked innocently.

"Ran out of hot water." He grumbled, flopping down beside Peter.

"Oh dear." Grinned Remus. "At least this way, you won't be late for breakfast."

"That was one time." Sirius griped.

"Yeah, but knowing how much you eat Padfoot it's a miracle." James laughed at his friend.

"Some friends I have." Sirius muttered good-naturedly. "Let's go get some food." The four friends grabbed their bags and trooped out of the room just as others began to descend the stairs, having been woken by Sirius' shrieks. Taking some shortcuts it only took them a couple of minutes to get to the Great Hall. Most of the teachers were there but only a handful of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were sitting at their tables. Sirius began piling eggs, bacon, sausages and beans onto his plate and dug in with gusto. The other three ate at a much more sedate pace exchanging bets on how quickly Sirius would choke. Slowly the hall began to fill up and McGonagall started handing out timetables. As they were now in sixth year it was slightly more complicated as it depending on the grades they had gotten in OWLs.

"Well Mr Potter, you are cleared to take Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, I was delighted by your marks by the way, Ancient Runes, Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Here is your timetable." She tapped the sheaf of parchment and handed it to him. James saw, with great delight, he had Ancient Runes first and then two free periods, followed by Herbology and then Charms.

"A list of hopefuls for the Quidditch team have already given me their names. I will pass that onto you in two weeks time. Once you have decided on a day to hold trials just put your own notice up in the common room." McGonagall told James quietly. "Mr Black, it seems you are cleared to do Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Muggle Studies, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Herbology."

"Cool. Free period first." Sirius grinned widely.

"You can use that time to do reading in advance." Remus said with a grin. James snorted, as did McGonagall. She moved on and gave timetables to Remus and Peter before moving off down the table. Peter and Remus had Care of Magical Creatures first so Sirius was the only one with a free period which dampened his enthusiasm slightly.

James headed off to Ancient Runes with a slight spring in his step. This was the only class he had with just Lily and no friends. He wanted to make a good impression on her. Lily was already outside the classroom door, standing with Alice and giggling loudly.

"Good morning ladies." He said smoothly, coming to stand beside them.

"It was." Lily muttered.

"Now what kind of greeting is that Lily Flower."

"I told you not to call me that." She scowled before turning back to Alice, taking care to edge James out of the conversation. Just then Professor Vector opened the door and they all moved inside. James quickly took a seat beside Lily while Alice was on her other side. Sadly they had this class with the Slytherins and soon enough Snape sidled into the room and looked over at Lily before sinking into a seat at the very back. The lesson passed reasonably quickly. Once the bell went, James hurried out of the classroom and made sure the Gryffindors were out safely before quickly casting the charm on the doorway. He edged away, laughing, careful to make sure his wand was safely in his pocket while in view of Lily. There was a strangled cry from behind them. Snape was stood there sporting golden hair that shone in the sunlight that was spilling in through a nearby window along with post box red skin. All the Gryffindors burst out laughing as every Slytherin that emerged from the room suddenly sported the same thing.

"Potter!" Snape spat. James held his hands up.

"What Snivelly? Looks good on you." He smirked.

"Take it off, now!"

"I don't know what you mean. To take it off, I would have to have done something. My wand is in my pocket as dear Lily Flower can vouch for." Lily and Alice were laughing along with the other Gryffindors but her expression became wary as her name was brought into the argument. With the last jab, James turned and strode off when a hex fizzed past his face close enough that he could feel the heat. He whipped around, drawing his wand and saw Snape with his wand already in hand. James quickly cast a jelly legs jinx at him which he blocked.

"You coward. Can you only attack when my back is turned?" James snarled.

"Says the boy who will only start a fight with three mates behind him." Snape retorted.

"Stop duelling in the corridors. Both of you grow up." Lily now intervened, standing between them, looking thoroughly annoyed. James looked contrite, although mostly at being caught by Lily, and made a show of lowering his wand. She gave them both one last look of disgust, grabbed Alice by the arm and stalked off towards her next class. Snape glared at James and began heading towards the dungeons. As Lily was out of sight, James cast a trip jinx at Snape and then moved off back towards Gryffindor tower before he could retaliate, grinning to himself.

In the tower he found Remus and Peter in the comfy armchairs with rolls of parchment spread out in front of them.

"Homework already?" James inquired.

"Two rolls of parchment. Kettleburn really knows how to welcome us back." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Ahh, Vector gave us none." James smirked.

"Well booey for Professor Vector." Remus sighed.

"I managed to prank the doorway to the classroom after the Gryffindors got out and now all the Slytherins are sporting gold hair and red skin." James laughed. "Snivelly looked furious."

"On the first day Prongs?" Remus rolled his eyes. "Isn't Lily in that class too?" He inquired. James nodded. Remus just sighed but didn't comment further.

"I think we should do it to the Great Hall. That way we can get everyone, not just Slytherins." Peter interrupted.

"That's a great idea Wormtail." James clapped him on the back. "I'm sure Padfoot will agree." The three of them lounged about, James watching the other two do their homework until Sirius finally clambered through the Portrait hole and joined them with Marlene. James immediately launched into the retelling of his prank that morning which had Sirius rolling around in his chair. He quickly agreed to Peter's idea and suggested they do it after dinner that evening so that it would wear off by morning. They all had a free period before Herbology so they decided to have an exploding snap competition. James won the first game but then lost spectacularly to Marlene. They kept rotating until the bell went and then made their way down to the greenhouses.

Herbology with the Hufflepuffs was usually good fun. Professor Sprout was a very good teacher and made the lessons very interesting. James was delighted to find that Lily had continued in this class. As they got there after the Hufflepuffs, Lily ended up next to James, much to her disgust. Today they were looking after Venomous Tentacular plants and looking up the value of each part of the plant, particularly their leaves. By being on his best behaviour, James made it through the whole lesson without Lily snapping at him once. Thrilled by this, he decided not to push his luck further and hurried out of the greenhouse before he could do anything wrong. Something the others laughed at him for all the way to Charms. As this way Lily's favourite subject he figured he should be on good behaviour as she was angry enough with him already.

Flitwick gave them a speech about NEWTs and split them in pairs to practise non verbal charms. Sirius' was better at Charms that James and mastered the use of non verbal ones first much to James' annoyance. Peter was muttering the spells quietly as Remus expertly cast the charm set. Flitwick excited them all when he announced they would be attempting to learn the Patronus charm next lesson. He had moved it from the seventh year curriculum after seeing their advanced results. There was some cheering at this news.

Once the final lessons of the day were over, they all headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. Half way through his steak and potatoes, James spotted Frank Longbottom, who was head boy, and went over to ask about the first Hogsmeade visit so that it wouldn't clash with his Quidditch tryouts.

"Tryouts will be a week on Saturday." He informed Sirius joyfully.

"Wicked. I can't wait." Sirius replied through his mouthful of Yorkshire pudding.

"You do know the Quidditch season doesn't really start until November don't you James?" Remus asked him, looking decidedly amused.

"Of course I do. But we are going to have so many new players, they need to get to know each other." James replied with a grin, Peter and Sirius nodded enthusiastically. Once they had all had their second helping of puddings, they headed back up to their dormitory, but not before casting the charm on the Great Hall door discreetly. As they got halfway up the stairs with a crowd of other students, there were cries of surprise and annoyance from behind them. Everyone turned and saw three Slytherin students and a bunch of Ravenclaws sporting the golden hair and red skin. Everyone laughed, even more so when Professor McGonagall came through to see what was going on and now had the same problem. This caused a whole new round of snickers especially as she hadn't noticed the problem as she tried to find out who had done it. The marauders made a quick escape.

"So, where are we going to go this full moon?" James asked after casting silencing charms around the room as an added precaution.

"I'm not sure we should leave the shack James." Remus looked nervous. They had only been out once before at the end of last term, having spent a few months just in the shack getting the werewolf used to their animagus forms. They had nearly run into someone taking an out of hours stroll of the grounds much to Remus' dismay. James and Sirius had managed to keep him away and there had been no accident.

"We'll be more careful. Head straight into the forest." Sirius dismissed the concern, looking excited. Remus shot him a look which he ignored.

"You know, if we explored the grounds some more we could make a map of Hogwarts. Just for us, but it would save so much time if we could look and see where each of us are during the day." James suggested.

"How would we do that?" Peter asked.

"Well, if we make a map, with all the secret passages on, we could enchant it to show where each of us are at all times." James grinned.

"That would require a lot of research. That will take a lot of magic." Remus pointed out.

"We've got you Moony. Walking know-it-all." Sirius grinned.

"Oh no. I'm not doing all the research alone. If you want to make this map, you will help me." Remus scowled at them.

"OK, ok, we will help. I'm going to have to hide under my invisibility cloak. I can't be seen in the library." James pulled a disgusted face.

"It would probably increase chances with Evans." Sirius winked. James' head shot up.

"Yeah, I'm in." He beamed. Remus rolled his eyes fondly. Sirius and Peter sniggered at him. "Shall we go now?"

"Fine." Remus agreed and they made their way down to the Library. Much to James' delight Lily was sat in one corner with Alice and Marlene. She spotted him and looked confused and wary as they moved over towards her.

"Good evening Evans." He gave her what he thought was a winning smile.

"Are you lost Potter?" She asked.

"No. I am in the Library by choice." James grinned happily. Lily studied him for a second and then turned away. Sirius dragged him away to another section and they began looking at books. All four of them became engrossed in looking for spells that would allow a piece of parchment to show the location and name of people.

"We can't place the spell on each person, otherwise we'd never be able to add anyone without being in the same place as them." Sirius muttered to the others.

"Yeah, it would have to be a spell on the actual parchment." Remus agreed.

"Are we just going to put ourselves on it, or everyone?" Peter asked.

"Might as well do everyone if we can." Sirius chimed in, keeping his voice low.

"So the spell could go on the room itself. Link the room to the parchment so it shows whoever is in it at the time." Remus frowned.

"Perfect. That way it will still be useful when new people come in, like the new first years." James grinned.

"What about the grounds?" Sirius asked.

"It will depend on how the spell works I guess. We need to start by drawing out Hogwarts. James, you're not bad at drawing." Remus looked over at him. "You start drawing it out while we research spells we will need for it." James nodded.

"That's going to be complicated. It will need to show every floor plus all the secret passages." James frowned.

"Just draw out each floor separately then we can think of a way to join them together." Remus suggested before turning back to his book. They all descended into silence as they each focused on the task assigned to them. Although it was about half an hour before Sirius began to get bored. He never did like sitting still for too long and he was itching to get up and do something. It didn't take long for him to wander off and start randomly pulling books off the shelf, flicking through a couple of pages before putting it back. Madam Pince came over, scowling at him, and asked what he was looking for.

"Books on tracking people." He said. She stared at him suspiciously but went away and came back with a book in hand. He went back to his friends who looked at him in surprise when he triumphantly put the book down in front of them. He told them where he got it and Remus did a double take.

"She helped you? Even after last year?"

"Yeah. Didn't look to happy about it though." Sirius snickered.

"I wonder why." James laughed, remembering the time Sirius had accidentally set fire to a book. Thankfully Remus had managed to fix it before Madam Pince saw exactly what had happened and he wasn't banned from the Library. She had, however, got the jist of it and chased Sirius out with a feather duster. It had been weeks before he dared go back and she had shot him suspicious looks the entire time he was there. Soon enough it was time to pack up and they four boys put back all their books just in time to leave the Library at the same time as Lily and her friends. Lily looked disgusted by this prospect as Marlene attached herself to Sirius. They departed as soon as they reached the common room and disappeared up the girls staircase. James watching with a longing look not missed by his friends. They chivied him up to their own room and all promptly fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4: Quidditch trials and Adventures

The four friends settled back into life at Hogwarts easily. James and Sirius continued lazing through lessons, putting in just enough efforts to do well. They weren't the top students in their year for nothing. Both amazingly bright, yet lazy, however they did take time to help Peter out. James was most disappointed he had made no headway with Lily. She still refused to go out with him, barely even spoke to him if she could help it. He knew she was still furious with him over what happened with Snape the previous summer and had no idea how to fix it. He couldn't quite bring himself to regret his actions, in his mind Snape completely deserved what happened to him, yet he felt slightly guilty for costing Lily her friend. Admittedly he was incredibly pleased he was no longer Lily's friend, being very concerned at having him as a rival. Thankfully it had seemed the only one who couldn't see how much Snape had adored her was Lily herself. But he knew it was taking a toll on Lily and he hated to see her in pain, thus he found himself always at war with himself and it annoyed him greatly.

"James, snap out of it." Sirius kicked his friend under the dinner table as he caught him staring at Lily yet again one evening.

"What? Oh, sorry." James muttered, turning back to his food. Remus and Sirius sniggered loudly causing Lily to look over. Catching her eye, James immediately made to mess his hair up further but wasn't looking and ended up knocking his goblet of pumpkin juice into his lap. Lily laughed rather loudly at this, causing James' face to turn slightly pink as he hastily cast a spell to clean himself up.

"Real smooth Prongs." Sirius gasped between chuckles. James swatted his friend upside the head and dumped a goblet of pumpkin juice in his hair which made Sirius shriek and curse very loudly. It was James' turn to laugh as Sirius was fumbling about trying to clean his hair in between threats towards James. Most of the hall was watching the display with amusement. They saw McGonagall making her way down from the Staff table and decided they had eaten enough for one day, making an escape. Sirius was cursing and muttering viciously under his breath the whole way back to the common room.

"Cheer up Padfoot. Quidditch trials tomorrow." James reminded his friend, who immediately brightened, momentarily forgetting his hair.

"Awesome. 9 isn't it?" James nodded. Hope we have a better turnout than last year. There were a lot of positions to be filled.

The day dawned bright and breezy. 'Perfect Quidditch conditions' James thought to himself as he made his way down to the Great Hall with Sirius. Remus and Peter were going to join them later, watching from the stands. After a quick breakfast, they made their way out to the pitch and James got everything ready while Sirius went on a warm up lap. Slowly people began to arrive in groups. He split them up into groups depending what position they were trying for. He started with the Chasers. Getting them all to do a warm up lap, he found some second years who had could barely fly that he sent away, but mostly they all looked fine. They did some basic passes which ended up with a couple more people being sent away as they couldn't catch to save their lives. He ended up with four promising candidates and had them take some shots. Pairing them up they had to get passed himself and Greg Davis. Marlene was paired with a girl called Katie Robins. Between them they did get passed the two existing team players and scored three goals. The other pair only scored once.

"Ok, Marlene, you're in. Katie, Robins was it? You did really well, so I'm hoping you'll be a reserve. If anything happens to these guys then you'll be in. Also, Greg is a seventh year and so leaving after this one. Next year you will become a full team member. You'll be expected to train with us as well."

"I'd love to." She answer, somewhat shyly. James smiled at her and nodded.

"We will be having first team practise after this. Nothing major, but if you could stick around?" Katie nodded.

Next they had the Keeper tryouts. James did a similar thing, some basic passes and catches which halved the number of candidates. He then had the Chasers take five shots at them. The first three only saved a maximum of three. A girl called Lucy Morgan did save four and got fingertips to the fifth from Katie but it still went in. A burly seventh year, David Wood, managed to save all five so James regretfully told Lucy that David was the keeper but that they would need a reserve as he was also in his last year which she agreed to happily. James had been deliberately keeping Beater tryouts for last, something Sirius noticed as he scowled over at his friend who only grinned innocently back.

"Next up, Beaters." He called. He paired them all up and made them fly opposite each other. The aim was to hit the bludger back and forth between each other down the length of the pitch, avoiding the Chasers who would be circling. Sirius was paired up with Frank Longbottom. They managed to make it the entire length of the pitch without hitting anyone or losing control of their bludger. Once they had completed it, Sirius hit the bludger back the length of the pitch to the next pair and the cycle began again. They were the only pair to make it. One duo almost managed to unseat Greg Davis who only just dodged in time. The other pair had an accident where one of them hit it to hard to the other who couldn't control it so the bludger was flying around out of control. James managed to get everything back under control and announced Sirius and Frank as the new Beaters.

"Congrats team. Now we will have introductions and a short practise to get everyone ready. Real practises will start early October because I want to get a head start on other teams." Everyone nodded as this made perfect sense to them. They set about doing more passes in a circle, calling out the name of the person as they threw it. This hopefully helped them memorise each other's names. Then they stopped calling out names and you had to be more alert in case it was thrown at you. If you dropped the Quaffle, James insisted on flying three laps and then heading to the ground to do ten press ups before rejoining the group. After a little while, James called that to an end and released the one Bludger. He split the Chasers into two teams, himself and Katie on one and Marlene with Greg on the other. They had to get passed each other and score passed David. They played this mini game for half an hour and then James called the day over. Jasmine had caught the snitch four times during the game and they were all feeling positive. James had a shower and left the changing rooms with Sirius eagerly discussing the coming team practises. Remus and Peter met them and they proceeded to the Great Hall for lunch.

That afternoon the four friends spent in the Library researching ideas for the map. The book Sirius had gotten from Madam Pince only had spells on how to actually track people which was useful but they needed to link it to the map. James had managed to produce a rough drawing of the first floor and was starting on the Dungeons. They hadn't explored too much down there, beyond finding Slughorn's office, the Slytherin common room and the Potions classroom.

"How about we go on an excursion tonight." James suggested excitedly, quickly casting silencing charms around them. "We need to explore more of the dungeons." Sirius nodded happily.

"The Cloak won't cover all of us anymore." Remus pointed out.

"Oh yeah. How about Sirius and I go, and you research some more. It looks less suspicious if it's just you in here."

"I will be in bed by the time you two get out and about." Remus rolled his eyes. "Besides, I have patrol tonight."

"Wicked. You can keep the Prefects away from us." Sirius grinned.

"Fine." Remus sighed, knowing he wouldn't win the argument. The others cheered.

"Meanwhile, Full Moon in a week. Are we just going to explore the forest?" James asked.

"Might as well. Get a good knowledge of the grounds." Sirius replied. "We have the rest of the month to explore the castle. Like tonight." They all agreed although Remus looked slightly nervous. He hated betraying Dumbledore's trust and his worst fear was accidentally harming someone if he got away from his friends, or even worse, hurting his friends fatally. He couldn't control the werewolf's strength and that scared him.

"Don't worry so much Moony." Sirius nudged his shoulder playfully.

"Easy for you to say. You don't have to worry about murdering someone." Remus bit back.

"Come off it. Sirius and I are big enough to stop you." James stopped smiling and looked seriously at his friend. "We joke a lot, but we wouldn't do it if we really thought there was a risk." Remus still looked unsure but nodded and finally relaxed slightly. Unbeknownst to Remus his three friends had been practising healing spells over the summer. They had all learnt some minor ones when they first transformed, knowing how dangerous it was but after that first night they all saw it would be more dangerous than first thought. They were all so scratched up that Remus forbade them from ever coming with him again and refused to speak to them for days he was so upset with himself. James and Sirius had finally convinced him that they didn't care, Madam Pomfrey could fix anything wrong with them as werewolf bite wouldn't affect their animal forms.

One condition to them going with him was that they all learnt more healing spells and the two boys had taken that seriously over summer. They could now fix broken bones and most minor cuts and bruises. Sirius was better with the cuts and scrapes. Anything bleeding profusely he could close up and mostly fix although he still couldn't work out how to stop the scarring. James was much better at fixing any breaks and casting glamour charms for any bruises they couldn't get rid of. It wouldn't do to show up for class next morning covered in bruises and scars. They even tried to hide the worst of it from Remus so he wouldn't feel so bad. But every day or so after the full moon he would still barely speak to his friends, having convinced himself that this would be the night they saw what a monster he was.

James clapped Remus on the shoulder and smiled confidently before returning to his drawing of the second floor, having decided to postpone the dungeons until he and Sirius had gone exploring that night. Sirius was reading up on spells to track people. They worked until Madam Pince chased them out and made their way back to the common room. Remus dropped off his stuff and went off to his Prefect duties, leaving the other three to plan that night's excursion. It was decided that Peter would come with them as it was unfair to leave him on his own during an adventure.

"Can we stop by the kitchens Prongs?" Sirius moaned as they left the common room a couple of hours later.

"Fine." James sighed and they made their way to the kitchens quietly. There were few teachers on patrol and thanks to Remus they knew all the prefect walks so avoided them and arrived undetected. The House-Elves were delighted to see them and even more excited when they asked for their usual evening order. They ate plenty of food and grabbed some for the journey. With pocketfuls of cakes and biscuits, the three made their way down to the dungeons. James had the parchment held awkwardly in his hand and he took notes on corridors and rooms they found. They wandered around for about half an hour before Sirius noted they were finally back in a corridor they recognised. Sadly they didn't find any secret passageways. It was three in the morning before they decided to call it a night and head back to the common room. James had enough information to draw the map.

When they got back Remus was asleep in an armchair by the fire. He had clearly been trying to wait up for them but not succeeded. Sirius wanted to leave him there but James levitated him up to their dorm and onto his own bed. The other three put the cloak away and fell onto their beds, fully dressed. The next morning, Remus woke them up. James groaned and rolled over telling him to go away.

"You're going to be late for Transfiguration. Lily will be there." Remus said. It was the magic words and James shot out of bed. He ran to the bathroom and got washed and changed in less than five minutes. Sirius was much harder to wake. In the end James went down and got Marlene to come up which made him wake up instantly. It cost them being scarred for life after the intense make out session they engaged in before Marlene went to help Sirius get ready. The others decided to vacate the room quickly.

"I don't think they will be down for a while." James rolled his eyes when he saw Lily and Alice waiting for their friend.

"Marlene has just gone to 'help him get ready'." Remus said making quotation marks around the last part making Lily wrinkle her nose.

"Hey look, first Hogsmeade weekend is Halloween." Peter pointed to the noticeboard.

"No Potter." Lily snapped before James could do or say anything.

"What? I didn't say anything." He protested.

"I thought I would spare your voice such a ridiculous question." She snarked back.

"I wasn't going to ask anyway." She gave him a look of disbelief and then walked off with Alice.

"You have every trip since third year, I can see why she would think this one was no different." Remus pointed out fairly.

"Hmph." James scowled. "She will agree one day."

"Dream on Prongs." Remus rolled his eyes as he headed towards the portrait hole and down to breakfast. James followed reluctantly behind.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5: Midnight excursions

The next few days passed relatively peacefully. James managed to not irritate Lily too much so the Gryffindor common room was much quieter than usual. Halloween finally arrived and the Marauders were excited to be heading into Hogsmeade. Sirius was supposed to be going with Marlene but had convinced her to spend some time with her friends in the morning and then they would meet up at the Three Broomsticks at lunchtime.

"I can't believe you aren't spending the whole day with her." James commented in disbelief. He knew that if he was lucky enough to be going with Lily then he would not let her out of his sight if he could possibly help it. Sirius simply rolled his eyes at his friend, knowing exactly what was going through his mind. He had never understood his attachment to one girl who didn't even like him. James had girls practically throwing themselves at him and yet he had eyes only for the one who hated his guts.

The four friends made their way down through the gates and headed towards Hogsmeade. Without even asking they instantly made their way to Zonko's. Remus only followed his friends out of amusement, not any particular desire to buy anything until he saw a box of hiccough sweets and decided to get some for when his friends annoyed him. James and Sirius were busy picking up as many bags of dungbombs and frogspawn soap as they could. Peter bought some bulbadox powder along with an ever bashing boomerang. It took them a while before they finally decided to move on. Remus dragged his friends over to Honeydukes as his chocolate stash was running dangerously low. Thankfully he had managed to find a place that Sirius had not yet discovered and so his stash was lasting longer than usual. As his friends were distracted he also bought a variety of sweets for Sirius' birthday which was coming up. He magically shrunk the sweets for his friend and hid them in his pocket just as the other three came up to him.

"So, is there any chocolate left in the store, Moony?" James asked with a smirk. Remus rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"Of course there is." He replied, sticking his nose in the air. He couldn't hold the pose long as was soon grinning along with his friends.

"Where next?" Peter asked.

"Well I need a new quill so I'm going to Scrivenshaft's and then I want to stop at Tomes and Scrolls." Remus informed them.

"Not Tomes and Scrolls again!" Sirius let out an exaggerated sigh.

"I'm not making you come." Remus retorted coolly.

"Great! I can head over to Spintwitches." Sirius grinned eagerly.

"I think I'll head with Remus. Lily might be in Tomes."

"I'll go with Sirius and then we can all meet up in the Three Broomsticks in half an hour?" Peter suggested.

"Great idea Wormtail. Come on Remus." The four split up.

"So why are you really coming with me?" Remus raised an eyebrow at James.

"I need to get Sirius a birthday present."

"I figured as much. Any ideas yet?"

"Yeah. I do actually need to go to Tomes."

"You're going to get him a book?" Remus looked incredulous. James just shrugged and grinned wickedly. They both went into Scrivenshaft's. Remus got himself a nice new eagle feather quill and James bought some invisible ink for Sirius. Once in Tomes and Scrolls, James went off on his own looking for the latest edition of 'A mischief maker's guide to the perfect prank'. He knew that the new version had only come out a few days previously and had heard Sirius moaning that he couldn't get his own copy yet. Naturally he got a copy for himself at the same time, but he shrunk both of them knowing if Sirius saw he had a copy he would likely go and buy his own. When he found Remus again he saw him with a book of magical creatures.

"You don't already have that?" James frowned. Remus was known for his knowledge of magical creatures and had almost every book he could get his hands on.

"No. It's one Kettleburn recommended as extra reading."

"Of course it is." He rolled his eyes. "Got everything?" Remus nodded so they set off towards the pub. They beat Sirius and Peter there and so they grabbed a Butterbeer each and found a table to wait for the others. It was another five minutes before they arrived with Marlene and Co in tow. Sirius and Marlene sat opposite each other as did Frank and Alice. This left Dorcas sitting opposite Remus and so Lily was forced to sit opposite James, much to the latter's delight.

"How is your day going so far?" James asked in an attempt to make polite conversation.

"Fine." Lily snapped. She then decided she had been a little too harsh. Again she realised they were going to be stuck in each others company a lot for the foreseeable future. "Thanks anyway Potter. Yours been alright?" She kicked herself when she saw his face light up at her civil response.

"It's been great thanks." He beamed.

"Oi! McKinnon and I are going to Madam Puddifoot's." Sirius whispered to Remus who then reported this loudly to the table, causing them all to laugh at the idea of Sirius being in that teashop. Sirius glared at Remus before being dragged away by Marlene.

"So, what are we doing for Sirius' birthday?" James turned to Remus as soon as Sirius was out of sight.

"Party in the common room?" Peter suggested. "You can keep him busy at Quidditch practise while we set up."

"Genius Wormtail. You guys and gals in?" James turned to the rest of the table.

"Sure." Alice and Frank agreed. He turned pleading eyes on Lily. She eyed him distastefully.

"I will probably be in the common room at that time and attend the party but don't expect me to help set up." She sighed when it was clear he wouldn't give up waiting for an answer. He frowned slightly but knew better than to push her. The group stayed and chatted for another half an hour about details for the party. They had decided to hold it on Tuesday which was Sirius' birthday rather than wait for the weekend. James would keep him busy while Remus was in charge of getting all the supplies with Peter's help. Alice would decorate the Common Room.

Soon the group decided it was time to leave. They headed back to the castle together, leaving the other happy couple in Madam Puddifoot's. Dorcas left them all on the fifth floor as she headed back to her own common room while the others carried on up to Gryffindor Tower. James, Remus and Peter headed straight up to their dormitory as the full moon was the night after tonight. They spent another hour discussing how the night would go before Sirius came in looking rather pleased with himself.

"So same start as usual then. Remus heads out at nine. We follow at half past. Pete gets us in. We spend an hour or so getting Moony used to us again and then we head on out. Go straight to the forest and explore."

"I still don't know James." Remus frowned.

"Come on Moony. You know you hurt yourself less if you have room to stretch out." Sirius argued. Remus looked around at all his friends and finally caved. The other three cheered and decided to turn in for an early night. The next day passed relatively quickly. Remus was much moodier than usual but that was normal for the day of the full moon. The Marauders all knew not to aggravate him the day of and the day after. During those two days his word was law among the group even if James was the unofficial leader. They spent a lot of the day playing games in the common room or else pouring over books trying to create their map. The first four floors had been drawn out by James and approved by the others. Remus had also found a way to link the room to the map so they could track everyone one in that room. Now they had to go around every single room in the castle and cast the spell. They had agreed to do that in pairs to try and speed up the process.

"Is that all the spells on the map now?" Sirius asked, late that evening.

"Yes, I think so. We just need to cast the spell on every room, corridor and secret passage. I think it should treat the grounds as one big room although Hagrid's will need to be done separately. As will each greenhouse." Remus replied, looking exhausted.

"Then we just need to protect the map so only we can open it." Peter put in.

"Yeah, that's important." James agreed. "How about a passphrase to make it show everything? It could be blank until we say exactly the right phrase."

"What about 'Marauders'?" Peter suggested.

"Naaa. Loads of people know we are called the Marauders." Sirius shot down that idea.

"I solemnly swear I am a marauder?" Remus put forwards. 'Solemnly swear' was a Marauder oath. They all took that very seriously.

"I promise to cause mischief?" Sirius grinned.

"I like that line of thinking Padfoot." James grinned back. "I solemnly swear I will cause trouble?"

"How about I solemnly swear that I am up to no good?" Remus said.

"Moony...that's brilliant. We have to use that." James clapped him on the back and Sirius agreed, nodding his head vigorously.

"What about 'Mischief Managed' to make it blank again?" Peter suggested.

"Perfect Wormtail." Everyone agreed in unison. All four of them cast the spell required and then said in perfect unison.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The map glowed brightly for a few seconds and then they repeated the process with "Mischief Managed." They each tried it. Tapping the parchment and saying the phrase, watching with fascination as James' drawing appeared and disappeared. By the time they were finished protecting the map it was time for Remus to head down to the hospital wing. The other three wished him luck and then continued adding protections to the map.

At quarter past nine the trio put on James' invisibility cloak and sneaked out of the common room. They headed down towards the Whomping Willow and saw it deserted. Having passed the hospital wing they knew Madam Pomfrey was already back from helping Remus so Peter transformed and pushed the knot on the tree. The other two hurried into the tunnel and once out of view, they took the cloak off. James shoved it in his pocket and then both he and Sirius transformed before the three headed up the tunnel and emerged in the shack. Remus was still in human form for the minute. His clothes were neatly stacked on the edge of the four poster bed and he was covered in a blanket. The change shredded his clothes otherwise. James transformed back to human and sat beside their friend. He handed him a bit of chocolate to munch on and just then a shaft of moonlight came in through the window. As Remus began to change, James turned back into a stag and waited a fair distance away from the pained werewolf. Moony howled as he completed the transformation and sniffed, turning to face the three other animals. Padfoot whined trying to sound comforting but Moony snarled and he stopped. It took a few minutes before Moony recognised the company and knew they weren't a threat.

They gave it a couple of hours of playing. Every time Moony lost interest in them and starting biting himself, Padfoot or Prongs would butt in and drag his attention back to them. Then they decided to usher the werewolf towards the tunnel. They knew almost everyone should be in bed by then so it should be safe to sneak out onto the grounds. It took a lot of playful shoving and pulling to get Moony down the tunnel and out into the forest. Once he saw the amount of prey in the forest he was much happier. They engaged him in a game of tag which did see them sustain a few scratches but nothing major. The night passed without incident. Padfoot and Prongs remembered all the parts of the forest they had played in and made a mental note of how to get around.

It was the early hours of the morning before they headed back to the shack. Moony did not wanted to go back into the cramped tunnel and shack when he had been free to roam in as much space as he wanted. It took a lot more effort to get him back in but they managed eventually. They tried to occupy him as much as possible in the small space before Remus started to change back to human. He barely managed to get dressed before he fell asleep on the bed, exhausted. The others all changed back once he was asleep and healed all their cuts and bruises. This time there hadn't been anywhere near as the previous times. Remus himself looked a lot healthier too. Sirius healed him while James took care of Peter although Peter always sustained the fewest injuries because of his form. Once this was done they crept back out of the tunnel under the cloak and headed back to the common room to get some sleep themselves. Sadly for the three Marauders it was Monday the next day so they only got a few hours sleep before classes. James tried to pay attention but did almost fall asleep in Charms. Peter did fall asleep in Transfiguration which got him detention from McGonagall.

After classes were over they took their notes and homework to the hospital wing for Remus who insisted despite Sirius' loud opinions that he should rest and use it as an excuse not to get homework. Remus took his complaints with good humour. Madam Pomfrey shooed them out of the hospital after a little while so they quietly promised to come back that night under the cloak. Remus appreciated their effort. They got back to the common room and claimed the comfy seats by the fire. Peter made a start on his Care of Magical Creatures homework while James and Sirius had a game of gobstones. All of their homework had been finished as they found it easier than most.

They all snuck out later under the cloak having to be very careful as they were now too large really to all fit. In the end Peter changed into a rat while James and Sirius shared the cloak. At the hospital wing they shared the extra changes they had made to the map while Remus had gone to see Madam Pomfrey. They spent about an hour with him before they all needed to get some sleep. The next day was Sirius' birthday. They all agreed to wait to give him his presents until Remus was released. So Remus was awoken by a bounding Sirius jumping on his bed although this did draw the ire of Madam Pomfrey quickly enough. She then did deem Remus fit to go once he had had breakfast.

The four mischief makers then hurried up to the dormitory while everyone else had breakfast and gave Sirius his presents. Remus had gotten him some chocolate, mostly as a selfish present so Sirius would stop stealing his, and some zonko's products. Peter had gotten him a book about his favourite Quidditch team and James had given him the new pranking book which earned him a massive manly hug. He opened a present from Marlene of some Quidditch goggles charmed to repel water and other bad weather. James' parents had sent him a small moving model of his broomstick and a box of homemade fudge. They had also sent him a gold watch that is customary to give to a wizard on his seventeenth birthday. Sirius looked like he was about to cry. The custom was generally done from father to son and this was their way of saying they saw him as a second son.

"Who would have thought I'd enjoy getting two whole books for my birthday." He beamed. "Thanks guys."

"Well, when I finally teach you to read we thought it best to start with topics you know." Remus chuckled.

"Oi! I can read just fine thank you." Sirius raised his nose in a haughty fashion.

"You keep deluding yourself Padfoot." James grinned. Sirius threw a pillow at him and it would have fallen into a full on pillow fight if Remus had not reminded them that they all had charms. Once all lessons were over, James and Sirius headed down to the Quidditch pitch. They spent a couple of hours having a great practise. The team were now gelling nicely and starting to perform the more complicated moves with ease. James was incredibly pleased with how his team were performing.

Once practise was over the team showered and headed up to the common room. As the Fat Lady opened to reveal the room there was a loud cheer of "Surprise!" and some more yelling.

"Happy birthday brother!" James called, accepting a drink from Remus.

"Wow. Thanks everyone." Sirius grinned. Marlene flew over and engaged him in a not so chaste kiss to loud cat calls and whistling. When they broke apart, Sirius winked at most of the audience and plastered his most charming grin over his face. Many of the girls around swooned. Marlene scowled at them and claimed his attention with a drink of firewhiskey. Food was passed around with butterbeer. Everyone chatted loudly and tried to wish Sirius a happy birthday. The party lasted well into the night. Towards the end it was clear Sirius was starting to get drunk. He was flirting with any girl that came close to him. Marlene was busy trying to get Lily to join in. Peter was trying his luck with a small mousy fifth year girl, they were kissing in one corner. As the crowd began to thin she spotted Sirius wrapped tightly around a seventh year. Both were clearly drunk but that didn't stop her as Marlene marched over, quite drunk herself, and forcibly pulled them apart.

"How dare you!" She screamed. The whole common room stopped and looked at them.

"Mar...come on." Sirius slurred grinning lopsidedly.

"Don't you 'Mar' me Black! I thought things were going great for us. And then I find you wrapped around the resident slut! We are done Sirius Black!"

"Marlene. Don't do this. We are going great." He drunkenly staggered towards her, arms outstretched.

"Get away from me. We are over!" Marlene stormed off to her dormitory. Lily stood, shot a vicious glare at Sirius, and followed her upstairs.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6: First game of the season

The first Quidditch game of the year was approaching. And as the weather got colder so did the atmosphere in the Gryffindor Common Room. Marlene refused to speak to Sirius and so James was left in an awkward position as team captain. Having a beater and chaser not talking made things uncomfortable for the rest of the team. It also meant that Lily had a reason to avoid talking to him which upset James a lot more than he let on. The two groups avoided each other like the plague. The Gryffindor team was training three times a week for their first game against Slytherin. The anticipation between the two houses naturally got higher and higher. James used this to siphon off his frustration about his lack of progress with Lily to hex and prank Snape within an inch of his life.

It started with small things like trip jinxes in the corridors and hair changing colours but then Snape started retaliating with darker curses. This causes Sirius to elevate the level of curses he used as well. Snape ended up having his hair jinxed off and James got stuck with antlers for ears. It came to a head when Snape used Sectumsempra on Sirius causing him to bleed from gashes all over his chest. McGonagall gave him detention until christmas for that and deducted 200 points from Slytherin. However Sirius was very popular in Gryffindor and so Snape found himself on the end of a different jinx almost every hour. There were so many suspects that the teachers found it almost impossible to find the perpetrators.

"We are going to slaughter Slytherin tomorrow." James grinned as they came in from the final practise before the game. The whole team looked rather pleased except Sirius and Marlene who were scowling and not looking at each other. The Marauders all moved up to their dorm.

"Mate, you're going to have to learn to work with Marlene." James frowned at his best mate.

"It's not that easy. She won't talk to me."

"Maybe you shouldn't have snogged Felicity in front of her then." Remus interjected. Sirius glared at him. "Just saying." Remus held his hands up.

"Moony has a point." Peter said nervously. Sirius just sighed deeply and buried himself face down in his pillow. The others all knew to leave him alone. Each of them slowly drew the curtains around their four post beds.

The morning of the game dawned bright but frosty. James woke up at first light in a mixture of excitement and anticipation. Looking out the window he assessed the conditions and deemed them rather good for the time of year. At least there was no rain yet. He knew nobody else would be up yet, Sirius slept like the dead and it wasn't worth his life to wake Remus up this close to a full moon. He headed down to the common room only to find someone asleep in a comfy chair by the fire. The red hair shone in the streaks of sunlight coming through the window. James knew that Lily would be upset if he woke her up and he was trying very hard not to upset her at the moment. He crept over and saw she must have fallen asleep while studying as her potions book was lying open beside her and her head was resting on a piece of parchment that appeared to be her essay. He quietly conjured a pillow and gently tried to place in under her head without waking her. Then moved the essay to a safer place, rolling it up and placing it in her bag. Lily didn't even stir while he did this, so rather than pushing his luck, he headed down to breakfast.

Lily woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. Looking around blearily, she spotted Marlene frowning and trying to wake her up.

"What?" Lily snapped. Not appreciating the early wakeup call.

"You fell asleep in the common room." Marlene explained. Sitting up, Lily saw that she was indeed in an armchair by the now empty fire. Surprisingly there was a pillow under her head. She looked around at Marlene, confused.

"Did you give me the pillow?"

"No. You were sleeping on it when I got down here. That's weird. Maybe Alice did on her way down. She went to breakfast already, with Frank." Lily stretched and got up.

"Where is my essay?" She frowned, looking all around. Her book was still lying open on the table but the essay she had been working on was nowhere in sight. "Don't tell me someone stole it." She sighed in frustration.

"No idea. Check your bag?" Marlene suggested. Lily found it rolled up neatly.

"But I'm sure I fell asleep while writing it. How did it get in my bag?"

"Maybe Alice decided to protect it when she put the pillow under you."

"Maybe. Let me just go get ready quickly then we can go to breakfast." She rushed up to their dormitory and got ready as quickly as possible. Now that she was awake she was hungry. Together, she and Marlene made their way down to the Great Hall. Not many people were down yet. They spotted Alice and Frank sitting about halfway down the Gryffindor table opposite Potter who was strangely not surrounded by his friends or admirers. Lily sighed before taking the seat next to Alice while Marlene sat next to Potter. She didn't particularly want a confrontation with him this early but it was usually unavoidable as he started acting like even more of an ass when she was around.

"Hey Alice. Did you put a pillow under my head this morning?" Lily asked as she slid into the seat.

"Morning Lils. No, it was already there when I came down." Alice replied, grabbing some more bacon. Lily frowned. Nobody else was up yet. Except Potter. Not wanting to explore that train of thought she didn't pursue the conversation. However, she did notice a faint flush of red on Potter's cheek. This itself was unusual. Potter never blushed. Ever. Well, very rarely and never for something this trivial. Nor did he do anything nice for no reason. This had to be a set up. Lily kept sneaking suspicious glances at him throughout breakfast. Wondering whether he would slip something into her food or prank her some other way as he usually did.

"I know I'm good looking, Evans. You can openly stare at me instead of sneaking glances every other minute." Potter finally said, having caught her eye for the third time as she looked across the table at his smirk.

"Dream on Potter." She mumbled. Marlene looked at her in confusion. Lily knew it was because her retort didn't have nearly as much bite in it as it should have. Her embarrassment at being caught looking at him had taken the sting out of her usual reply. But to admit that would be to admit she'd been staring at him. Not a conversation she wanted with Marlene who would immediately jump to the conclusion she liked Potter. Which was absolutely ridiculous. She hated his guts. The pillow must just be his new absurd way of getting her to go out with him. She wished he would just stop, it got tiresome after fourth year let alone by sixth. Soon the rest of Potter's gang arrived and Marlene's expression turned frosty before she stood up.

"I'll see you in the changing rooms Captain." She said before making her escape. Sirius frowned at her retreating back before taking her seat next to Potter. Remus sat next to him looking tired and occasionally throwing disapproving looks at Sirius. Lily always had like Remus the best out of the four nuisances. Having to do prefect rounds together meant they spent a fair amount of time together and she had realised he was actually quite similar to her. They both enjoyed studying and had similar interests in subjects except his favourite was Magical Creatures and hers was Charms. She sent him a small smile and then turned to Alice but she was in conversation with Frank and Potter about the match. Lily wasn't particularly a fan of flying or of Quidditch. She did turn up to the matches if only to support her House but since Marlene was on the team she definitely had to make an appearance.

"Right team, let's get moving." James announced once he saw the last member of his team finish eating. The six of them stood up and followed James to the changing room where Marlene was already waiting. Everyone got changed and then looked expectantly at James.

"Right team. First match of the season we need a good performance. A solid base to build on and all that. Plus it's slimy Slytherin, we definitely cannot lose to them. Now, I don't care what disagreements you have off the pitch, we need to work together." He looked pointedly at Marlene and Sirius. "Argue all you want off the pitch but as soon as you get on those brooms you are teammates first. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Let's go then. You've all worked incredibly hard and I'm proud of you. Let's go win!" He finished with a shout. They all cheered and followed him onto the pitch. A loud roar from three quarters of the crowd greeted their appearance.

"And here come Gryffindor!" The commentator, a fourth year Gryffindor called Jordan Long, cheered. "Potter, Davis, McKinnon, Longbottom, Black, Wood and Moon." Each name was accompanied by another loud cheer from the crowd. The Slytherin team was now approaching from the other side in their green robes.

"And here come Slytherin." He cried in a much more subdued tone. "At least they don't need to worry about the bludgers, won't do much damage."

"Long!" Professor McGonagall's voice echoed around the stadium to much cheering and applause from the Gryffindors for Jordan's comment.

"Sorry Professor." He said, not sounding sorry at all. "I give you Slytherin. Pucey, Nott, Griffiths, Chambers, Montague, Bletchley and Black." Cheers now came from the green section of the crowd. James strode forwards to shake the hand of Henry Pucey, the team captain and also a chaser. James scowled over at Regulus Black who was the Slytherin seeker as he shook the captain's hand. He felt the familiar pressure of Pucey trying to crush his hand but James simply squeezed back just as hard. Pucey scowled.

"Now, I want a nice clean game." Madam Hooch said, glaring at them all sternly. James snorted inwardly, she always said that and it never was. Finally, she picked the Quaffle up out of the box and the players mounted their brooms. Taking off, James felt the familiar adrenaline rush that accompanied a flight. Nothing could beat flying, except maybe Lily Evans. He grinned to himself and then returned his attention to the big red ball in Hooch's arms.

Madam Hooch threw the ball up into the air and blew her whistle. James dived to the side knowing Marlene was going for the Quaffle. Sure enough she emerged from the group that had lunged for it with the ball tucked under her arm as she dodged a clumsy tackle from Pucey. James was now unmarked to the left side of the pitch and Marlene threw the Quaffle over. He caught it neatly and pelted straight towards the hoops. Glancing to his right he saw a bludger on its way towards him so he rolled right over and it flew passed him, missing by inches. This slowed him just enough for Griffiths to catch up and attempt to knock the Quaffle from under his arm. James clung on by his fingertips, managing to throw it over towards Davis. As he let go he was rammed from behind by Nott and flew forwards, barely stopping himself flying off the end of his broom.

"Foul!" Went up the call from the stands. The whistle sounded and James flew over to take the penalty. He eyed the right hoop and noticed how the Slytherin keeper drifted that way slightly. As the whistle sounded again he flew forwards and flicked his eyes to the left before firing at the right hoop. The keeper had spotted the quick eye movement and turned hard in that direction before his eyes widened comically as the ball flew past his ear and into the right hoop.

"Go Potter! 10-0 Gryffindor." Jordan called over the megaphone. He grinned smugly as he flew back into formation, getting high fives from his fellow chasers. Pucey was glaring at him which made him smile wider. Bletchley started the game again by passing the ball out to Nott. Nott then flew straight down the pitch. A slick reverse pass saw the Quaffle bypass Davis and fall straight into Pucey's hands who then took a quick shot at Wood's goal. A cheer went up as Wood saved it with a triumphant grin before quickly flicking it out to Marlene.

"Drop and cover." James called with a grin. Davis flew below Marlene while James flew off to her left drawing the attention of Griffiths. This allowed Marlene to nicely loop around Nott and then drop the ball to Davis below avoiding Pucey giving him a free shot on the hoops which Bletchley saved to the boos of the red section of the crowd which drowned out the green.

The game carried on in a similar fashion. Half an hour in it was 70-20 to Gryffindor. The Slytherin team were getting more enraged by the second, especially when Sirius managed to hit his brother in the side with a nicely placed bludger as he chased the snitch, almost putting him out of the game but he ended up being only winded. As the Slytherins got more and more dirty Jordan got more and more biased in his commentating. As the score reached 100-30 courtesy of another two penalties and a superb reverse shot from Marlene, there was a yell of excitement as the snitch was spotted. James took the opportunity as the Slytherin chasers got distracted watching Regulus to score one more goal before Moon's hand closed upon the snitch. It had been much nearer to her and no matter that Regulus had the superior broom, he just wasn't close enough to stand a chance. With the game ending 260-30 James was on cloud nine. As was Sirius, but mostly his high was from being able to hit Regulus with a bludger. That made his month as far as he was concerned.

"Congratulations guys. Party in the common room." Remus informed them.

"Righto. Let's go and grab some snacks." James beamed. He and Sirius snuck down the humped back witch's tunnel to Honeydukes while Remus and Peter went down to the kitchens. It was an hour and a half later that they all returned to the common room to admiring looks at the food they had brought.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7: Patronuses

The party after that first Quidditch game had been rather tense and awkward. Both Marlene and Black were usually the life of the party, but with both of them vividly remembering Black's birthday party it was very tame compared to usual. Both of them had gone to bed early, a sight never seen before, but this had thankfully given Lily an excuse to escape early too, as she never had been a massive fan of big parties.

The next few weeks went by in relative peace. Everybody was getting excited for Christmas. Marlene and Sirius had progressed to being in the same vicinity without making everybody else incredibly uncomfortable which of course meant Lily had to spend more time near James. Something she made very clear she was displeased about. However Potter had been on his best behaviour and had managed not to provoke her anywhere near as much as usual, which made her nervous. Usually if Potter was nice for any length of time he was plotting something and she did not have the patience to put up with his stupid pranks. Sure, the peace was nice, but it was ruined with constantly expecting the fallout. This extended period of Potter being nice had actually caused a shift in which she now thought she may actually hate Sirius Black more. The very thought of hating someone more than Potter was absurd, yet if it was going to be anyone then it would indeed be his sidekick Black, especially after what he did to Marlene.

Now the first of December dawned bright and cold. The first smatterings of snow for the year had fallen during the night, giving the grounds a light dusting. Lily loved the snow and as soon as she saw it falling past her window, she woke all her dorm mates up and made them all get ready. It seemed the boys had had the same idea as Potter and his mates were already outside throwing snowballs at each other.

"Hey, Evans, care to join us? Girls vs boys?" Potter called over. Lily decided it couldn't hurt to give them a game.

"You're on Potter." She yelled back, immediately dropping back to her friends so they could make some hurried plans. Alice started work on a snowbank in front of them in an attempt at some protection, quickly conjuring a little more snow as there really wasn't quite enough on the ground. Lily and Marlene started building a pile of snowballs and were soon joined by Dorcas. As they built up the pile something cold hit Lily on the cheek. Looking up she saw Sirius looking smug and she glared at him.

"Alright, they are going down." Marlene hissed to the others. All of them started gathering snowballs. Dorcas threw first, aiming at Peter and catching him in the arm, startling him so badly he dropped both snowballs he was carrying. Potter caught Dorcas in the leg as revenge, neatly dodging one thrown at him by Lily. Marlene seemed to be focusing all her attention on Black, forcing him to stop covering his friends and protect himself from the onslaught. Having a sudden idea, Lily took out her wand and enchanted a few snowballs from the boys pile to fly at Potter from behind while she manually threw one at him to distract him. It worked and three snowballs all hit him neatly in the back of his head.

"Oh, using magic are we Evans? It's on then." He smirked evilly and before she knew it, Lily was trying to dodge four snowballs at once. It deteriorated from there and soon everyone was covered from head to foot in snow. Four hours later they finally called a halt to the game to get changed before lunch. Lily was shivering viciously by the time the trooped indoors but happy all the same. Suddenly a warmth flooded all over her and she looked around. James had his wand out and was grinning.

"What did you do Potter?" She snapped, immediately on edge. He frowned and put his hands out in and 'I'm innocent' gesture.

"Just cast a warming charms Evans. You looked like you were about to freeze to the floor." He sounded a little confused.

"Oh. Sorry." She mumbled, a different heat rushing through her cheeks for having snapped over something so silly. Thankfully her cheeks were already red from the cold so he wouldn't notice. "Thanks Potter." She added.

"No worries." He grinned back easily and continued past her on his way to the common room leaving a confused Lily Evans behind. Potter was so rarely nice to her, that on the rare occasion he was it caught her off guard, expecting some ridiculous prank. Usually he was giving her piggish compliments or trying to act even more arrogant as if boasting about his Quidditch skills would make him more appealing to her. Although his habit of ruffling up his hair was the most annoying, yet he seemed to do it every time she looked at him. She noticed Marlene had been watching the encounter and sighed, knowing Marlene was going to read way too much into it. Then she cursed, knowing she was overthinking it herself. Thinking about Potter and his motives was becoming an alarmingly common occurance these days. Definitely not good.

James was a little put out with the way Lily had snapped at him for simply trying to help her out, but then he realised she must have thought he was pranking her and with his history it would make sense. Still she had thanked him and even _apologised_ , Evans never, ever apologised to him so James kept walking now with a spring in his step at the progress he was making. He knew winning her over would be a long haul project but it would definitely be worth it.

"Something make you happy Prongs?" The voice of his best mate called him from his thoughts.

"Naa. Just glad it snowed on a Saturday." He replied.

"I saw him talking to Evans in the Entrance hall." Peter put in with a sly grin.

"Ooh, and he hasn't got a slap mark on his face, that's an improvement." Sirius teased, smirking broadly.

"Oh shove off Padfoot, I saw Marlene attacking nobody but you all game." James retorted with an answering smirk. "Seems you haven't gotten her to forgive you yet."

"Shut up." Sirius muttered back causing James to give him a triumphant smile and then chivvy them all back to the dorm room to discuss putting final touches on the map. They had covered most of the castle now, but catching every single room was hard word given how many rooms there were in a castle that size. The parchment drawing of the castle and charms on it had only taken a month or so to create but it had taken them a further two months to try and get every single room. It was the grounds that were giving them difficulty because so far they had placed charms on the room itself but with the grounds being nothing but open air there wasn't anything to stick the charm to as such. They had been tempted to use Arithmancy and Ancient Runes to attempt to change the spell they had already found so it could be cast on the map not the room, but Remus refused to try such a risky endeavour without adult supervision. He protested that there were too many things that could go wrong trying to change a spell, although it was easier than creating one from scratch. Reluctantly the others had agreed so they were still without a solution although the rest of it worked perfectly.

"So, full moon soon." Sirius started as soon as Remus arrived in the room and silencing spells had been put up.

"Yes, I am aware." Remus bit back tiredly.

"Someone is grouchy." Sirius grinned. No response. "Where shall we explore this time?"

"The forest obviously." Remus looked at him like he was crazy.

"We always explore the forest." He whined back.

"That's because it's risky enough as it is."

"But Moony…!"

"No, Sirius."

"Prongs?"

"Sorry Padfoot, I gotta agree with Moony. We haven't been doing this long enough to risk taking him anywhere else." James sighed. He did want to explore the grounds, maybe even Hogsmeade at night but he knew that helping Remus was actually the main point of their adventures, and it wasn't worth sacrificing his happiness.

"But…"

"No. You know Remus doesn't want too and Moony is always more edgy when Remus is nervous. He's barely used to the forest yet." James put his foot down and Sirius pouted. Remus sent him a grateful smile as they all got themselves changed out of their wet, cold clothes. They spent the rest of the day completing homework and then playing rounds of exploding snap. By early evening the girls had joined in with the competition and Lily had surprised them all by winning against everyone so far, even Marlene who was usually the best in the group. Alice and Frank were curled up on the sofa by the fire watching James play Remus. This took longer than most of the other games but eventually Remus knocked one of the cards and it exploded in his face.

"Hard luck Remmy old boy. How about making card castles?" James patted Remus on the back with a grin.

"You're on Potter." Lily and Marlene said together. He raised an eyebrow at them challengingly and then handed them each an even number of cards. Marlene's exploded first. She may have been good at snap but she barely got ten cards in to her tower. The whole group was watching intently as the other two got quite far into their towers, having divided up Marlene's remaining cards. Then Lily's exploded just as she put her last card on causing her to groan in frustration watching James put his last card on expertly.

"I'm impressed Evans. Not many people get that far." James grinned at her as he put the cards away.

"Not bad Potter, but don't count on luck helping you next time." She replied.

"No luck needed." He bragged. Lily rolled her eyes and then bade everyone goodnight. That seemed to be the cue for everyone to start saying goodnight and to head upstairs to bed.

Classes resumed the next day. They had Transfiguration first followed by Herbology. Both lessons passed quickly enough for James, who spent more time watching Lily than paying attention. Thankfully for him they had been forced to work together again in Herbology and he got through another lesson without annoying her. During break time, they tried to get a few more classrooms onto the map. By now they had barely a handful left along with the grounds.

In Arithmancy their teacher had told them they would be starting to look at how spells were created and the elements of individual spells. Remus was incredibly excited. Maybe he could find a solution for the map in these lessons, passing it off as a school project. He was the only marauder in this subject as they had tried to spread their expertise. He took Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. Peter took Care of Magical Creatures. Sirius had taken Muggle Studies as his only subject other than the core ones and James had taken Ancient Runes. All of them having dropped at least one subject for NEWTs. He would speak to them when he saw them in Charms which was their last lesson of their day.

Lunchtime saw another snowball fight taking place. Remus sat out of this one along with Alice. The pair of them watch their friends shrieking and yelling. They had mixed the teams up so Marlene was working with James and Lily was with Sirius much to her displeasure. Dorcas was on James' team while Sirius got Peter. The two teams of three were supposed to not be using magic but both Marlene and Lily were so competitive they lasted only ten minutes before wands were out. Once they were all dried off, they had to head towards Charms. It was a double period and one they all had together.

Professor Flitwick was waiting for them when they arrived and ushered them all into the large classroom. James took his traditional seat next to Sirius with Remus on his other side.

"Today, we will start work on Patroni." The diminutive professor announced much to the excitement of the class. "These are the only protection against creatures such as Dementors and Lethifolds. This is not usually taught before seventh year or auror training, however you are all very capable students and deserve something fun before christmas. This is an incredibly tricky charm and not all fully grown wizards can manage one. Now, to create a patronus, it is not just a matter of waving your wand and saying the words. A patronus is dependant on the emotion behind the spell. You must have a happy thought or memory."

"Any happy memory?" Someone asked.

"No, it must be strong. A faint feeling of happiness will not suffice. Especially if you are trying to fight of a Dementor. They suck out the happiness from the world, and as such a patronus is essentially created from happiness. To repel a Dementor takes a great deal of effort and producing a patronus in a classroom is not the same as producing one while fighting for your life. However, it is a start but do not be disheartened if you cannot produce anything more than vapour, or indeed nothing at all. It simply means you need a stronger memory."

People were looking around at each other. Not many lessons started with 'a lot of adults can't manage this'.

"The charm is 'Expecto Patronum.'" The professor told them. Repeat after me. They did so. Soon he set them the task of thinking of an appropriate memory. James began thinking. He considered memories such as winning the Quidditch cup and christmas at home with his parents. He tried the incantation with both memories but he managed to produce nothing more than vapour on either of them. Nobody seemed to be having much luck. Remus and Sirius had both managed a faint mist and Peter had nothing at all. He looked around the classroom and saw lots of white mist hanging in the air before it vanished when it's caster lost concentration and cursed. He got caught up watching Lily getting frustrated as she continually got nothing more than the mist.

The lesson ended with the promise of continuing on next lesson and their homework a roll of parchment on the casting and uses of the patronus charm. Everyone was chatting and grumbling on their way out. The week dragged by, getting colder and colder. More snow fell almost every night and the decoration of the castle had started with Christmas less than three weeks away. Professor McGonagall came around with the list for those who wanted to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. James and Sirius were going back to Potter Manor. Peter was going home as well but Remus was staying at the castle as the full moon occurred on the 27th.

"You should come with us, Moony." James tried to persuade his friend. He hated the thought of him going through a full moon on his own. "There is plenty of space in our forest on the ground for us to be with you."

"I won't be allowed. Your parents don't have proper precautions in place and we can't tell them that you will be there to try and keep me in order." Remus argued. He didn't want to do this without his friends either but it was more important to him to make sure he was safe.

"Well, at least see if McGonagall will let you floo to our house for christmas day." James insisted, privately thinking that if Remus didn't, he would on his friend's behalf. Remus nodded, liking the idea of spending christmas with his friends. The weeks flew past and soon in was the last day of term. Their last lesson was Charms with their continuation of the Patronus Charm. It was towards the end of the lesson when James was busy thinking about one Lily Evans and cast the charm. There was a bright light and something escaped his wand that had much more of a shape than the vague mist he had conjured so far. Everyone stopped and turned to watch and it seemed to be trying to for an animal but he lost his concentration in his surprise and it vanished.

"Very well done Mr Potter." Professor Flitwick clapped. "Do try again." James concentrated harder on the image of Lily, not a particular memory, just an image of her and tried again. This time the shape out of his wand was clearly that of a large four legged animal. Antlers formed on its head and James realised it was a stag, the same as his animagus form. Well that made sense. People were cheering and commenting on its beauty and it slowly dissolved into nothing. His success had motivated everyone else, although Sirius was upset that his best friend had managed it before he did. James cast it again and amused himself seeing how long he could keep his patronus up, making it run up and down the length of the classroom. Just then another silvery animal cast bursting out of a wand nearby and a silver doe cantered around the room before settling down beside the stag. James looked wildly around the room and saw Lily staring wide eyed at the sight before her. As she realised what she was looking at a furious blush crept up her cheeks and the doe vanished. He noticed Marlene whispering in Lily's ear but she did not seem to be listening, busy looking at the spot where the doe had vanished.


End file.
